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Here are some interesting facts I found while writing The Lord of the Harvest. I wrote it to clear up some confusion over the end times harvests known as the rapture.

Did you know Jesus likened himself to a grain of wheat? There are fifty grains in a stalk of wheat and the Church began on the fiftieth day, a day which the Jews celebrated as the “Beginning of Harvest.”

Unleavened bread is eaten for seven days from Passover. The bread is striped and pierced. These stripes were seen by the prophet Isaiah 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ; “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5

Jesus likened himself to a grain of wheat. A stalk of wheat has fifty grains. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” John 12:24

The Church began on the fiftieth day after the Feast of First Fruits which was called “the Beginning of Harvest.”It was when the very first sheaf of the harvest was offered and waved before the Lord north, south, east, and west.

The fiftieth day is also celebrated by Israel as the Feast of Shavuot when seven lots of seven weeks are marked off after the first three spring festivals of Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Feast of First Fruits. Shavuot marks the all-important wheat harvest.

The distinguishing feature of Shavuot is the offering of two leavened loaves of bread made of fine flour. The Greek word for leavened bread is ‘artos,’ meaning a raised loaf of normal, natural regular bread. With the leaven, it’s sure to rise.

The temple at Jerusalem was built on Araunah’s threshing floor. Araunah means ‘ark.’ David paid Araunah fifty shekels of silver for it, denoting a full price and a full purchase. (2 Sam. 24:24)

Jesus mentioned the First Fruits, the Beginning of the Harvest when he was in Sychar, a Gentile area.

“Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” John 4:35.

Sychar means ‘end.’

As for the end, there has been much speculation about when this will be. Jesus said it’s not for us to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. Acts 1:7

But we can know the season. Jesus did leave a clue about it when he said in Matthew 24; “no man knows the day or the hour.” The autumn Feast of Trumpets was the only festival where the Jews did not know the day or hour it would be, as it was dependent on the first sighting of the new moon.

Paul wrote about the Church being gathered at the last trumpet;“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51

Two loaves, two harvests

The autumn festival of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles marks the ingathering. These are people from the Great Tribulation who have responded to the worldwide preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. They show up in Revelation 7, waving lulavs – a closed frond of the date palm tree waved at Sukkot.

The Autumn harvest will begin when the Times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.